Strengthening Supply Chain Resilience for Critical Nutrition: A Review

ABSTRACT : This systematic literature review examines strategies to enhance the resilience of supply chains supplying essential nutrition and food products amid increasing global disruptions, including climate change, pandemics, geopolitical conflicts, labor shortages, and transport bottlenecks, and integrates four foundational theoretical frameworks. These include Supply Chain Resilience Theory, Risk Management Theory, the Food Security Framework, and Systems Theory; the study synthesizes empirical and policy evidence to establish an integrated resilience architecture for high-stakes agri-food networks. The review identifies key operational vulnerability drivers, including single-source dependency, high supplier concentration, and lean just-in-time inventory models. To counter these systemic weaknesses, the study delineates actionable resilience capabilities across five core pillars: (1) sourcing elasticity through supplier diversification and regionalized manufacturing; (2) dynamic buffer management via rotational safety stocks and flexible capacity contracts; (3) digital infrastructure leveraging artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) environmental cold-chain sensors, and blockchain pedigree; (4) collaborative governance utilizing public-private partnerships (PPPs) for emergency logistics and expedited regulatory clearances; and (5) ecological convergence aligning shock absorption with climate adaptation and waste optimization. This paper provides actionable operational and regulatory recommendations for high-stakes nutrition products (infant formula, therapeutic foods, and clinical medical diets) under FDA and USDA oversight.

KEYWORDS – Supply Chain Resilience; Critical Nutrition Products; Risk Management; Digital Supply Chains; Artificial Intelligence; and Blockchain Traceability